1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording data into a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, semiconductor storage devices (optical disc media, hard disks, flash memories, etc.) have become the mainstream as devices for recording, as digital data, video or audio taken by video recorders for recording television programs, digital camcorders, digital still cameras, and the like. The storage capacities of these recording devices are increasing year by year, but are finite. Due to the limit of the storage capacity, there will be a shortage of free space. In such a situation, for example, a video recorder fails to record a whole program, or a digital camcorder or a digital camera fails to record at a picture or scene at a decisive moment.
In order to solve the problem that recording cannot be performed when a shortage of free space occurs, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-251344 discloses the following technique. Two hard disks are provided so as to address possible disk failure. The same data is normally recorded into the two disks as insurance against hard disk failure. When there is not enough free space to record a program, it is determined whether or not there is an information file which is doubly recorded. If there is an information file which is doubly recorded, the doubly-recorded information file is deleted from one of the two hard disks to secure free space required for recording in the one hard disk. A program is recorded into the free space rather than double recording, thereby avoiding failure of recording the program.
In the conventional technique above, however, if a shortage of free space continually occurs, doubly-recorded information files are deleted from one disk to secure free space, information files are continually recorded into the free space. However, if there is no longer a doubly-recorded information file which can be deleted, no more free space can be obtained. In this case, data which is being currently recorded or is about to be recorded fails to be recorded.
Also, in the conventional technique above, a plurality of hard disks are required for double recording, resulting in high cost.